"Mom... the shirt belongs to the guy I've been dating."

My mother looked a bit confused, understandably. "The guy you've been dating?"

"Well, we're not technically dating, but we've been seeing each other for a little while... romantically, for the lack of a better term."

"So you're...?" she nearly whispered, seemingly unable to say the inevitable word.

"I'm gay," I finally said, the weight finally off of my shoulders.

She closed her eyes for a moment before giving me a small smile. "I know."

I tilted my head. "You know?"

She nodded. "I suppose a part of me has always known, at least since you were four or five."

"How?" I asked incredulously. "I've only known since I was fourteen."

"Well... mostly with your interests and temperament. You were never really into masculine hobbies. You hated watching violent movies and sports, no matter how much your father tried to get you into them. You liked playing dress up with my clothes and always wanted to play with my doll collection. Plus, there's the fact that you've always loved Madonna and Elton John."

"Shit, you could have told me, saving me years of confusion!" I said, waving my hands around.

Mom laughed. "What was I supposed to say when you were that young? ‘Honey, I think you're gay.' Then you would have asked, ‘Mommy, what does gay mean?' opening up a big can of worms."

I laughed along with her.

Wow... this was going better than I ever thought it would.

"When you and Daphne began spending so much time together in junior high, I figured that you were just a straight guy with some feminine qualities," Mom said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Oh, Daphne also claims to have ‘always' known I was gay. She was actually thrilled when I came out to her over the summer, saying it was so cool to have a gay best friend."

 "Well, now that I know the truth, I have to say that I'm relieved. It's nice that I don't have to worry about you getting her pregnant anymore."

"Deidra put her on the pill two years ago," I said, referring to Daphne's mother.

"She told me. That's the only reason why I ever let you stay the night with her, though accidents do happen. I know what goes on when straight teenage boys and girls are left alone. Now I know you were just having innocent slumber parties."

"We usually spend the night talking about the cute boys at school, flipping through entertainment magazines, and watching chick flicks."

Mom looked at the black shirt still clasped in her hand. "So, I'm guessing that your boyfriend goes to your school?"

Well...

I knew that I had to be careful in keeping Brian's true identity safe, but I also wanted to stay on the honesty train we were delightfully riding on.

"No, he doesn't."

"Then how did you meet him?"

I took the shirt from her, removed it from the hanger, and began to fold it. "He owns a business on Liberty Avenue."

"Oh," Mom said in surprise. "He's older than you, then?"

I nodded.

"I didn't know that you hung around that part of town."

"I haven't for very long," I said, staring down at the shirt in my hands. "It's nice to be around other people like me. I'm pretty sure I'm the only gay kid at my school."

Mom put her hand on my shoulder, prompting me to look into her eyes. "Please just tell me you're being safe, Honey."

"Honestly, I feel safer on Liberty Avenue than I do at school these days," I said, gesturing to my busted face.

"No, I meant that I hope you're being safe with... with boys."

I tried not to cringe, since the topic of sex was something I had never felt comfortable talking to my mother about. "I actually haven't gone all the way yet, but they've lectured us more than once at school about safe sex, so don't worry."

Mom smiled before finally sitting at one of the bar stools and picking up her sandwich. "Are you going to tell me about him?"

"Uh... what do you want to know?"

"Judging by the size of that shirt, I'm guessing that he's a big guy."

I couldn't help but smile as I pictured Brian in my head. "He's about six foot two and has a great body. Not too muscular, but perfectly toned all over."

"Ooh," Mom said, giggling like a school girl. "What else? Is he good looking?"

"He's absolutely gorgeous. He has brown hair, hazel eyes, and a strong, chiseled jaw."

"I'm guessing since he has his own business and an expensive taste in clothes, he has money?" she asked, ever the upper-class WASP.

"Yes, he's very comfortable and fashionable."

We ate our sandwiches for a bit, the silence welcome after the bomb I had just dropped.

"You know what? I just realized that I didn't even ask you his name," she suddenly said, chuckling at her silliness.

Ladies and gentleman, please step off of the Honesty Train at this time.

"Emmett," I answered.

Minus the fact that he wasn't as gorgeous as Brian, had blue eyes, and wasn't a rich business owner, the description was otherwise accurate.

"Emmett," she repeated. "Well, I hope I get to meet him some day."

"I've only known him for a couple of weeks," I quickly said. "I don't know if it'll actually go anywhere. It's definitely nowhere near the ‘come meet my mom' stage."

"You're obviously special to him, since he's letting you borrow his designer shirts," she pointed out.

"Maybe," I said, hoping against all hope that I could have anything resembling a real future with Brian and that he legitimately cared about me.

I later went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, frowning when I saw that, just as Brian had predicted, I was developing one hell of a shiner as a result of Hobbs's punch to my left eye.

That fucking asshole...

I went to my room and fired up my computer. I soon saw that Daphne, apparently one to never ignore juicy gossip, had sent me an instant message saying:

OMG, I heard you got into a fight with Chris Hobbs after school??!!!!1????!!!!!

I typed out my reply:

You heard correctly.

Less than a minute later, my mother came to my room with the cordless phone, informing me that Daphne was on the line.

"So, I guess you're talking to me again?" I said in lieu of a greeting, lying down on my bed.

"I'm still mad at you, but I'm putting that aside for the moment," she informed me. "What the fuck happened?"

I gave her the full account of the fight, omitting Hobbs's statement of how Brian was also a faggot.

"He actually put his hands on your throat?" Daphne asked, her voice full of disgust for that piece of shit.

"He really might have choked me to death if Mr. Kinney hadn't gotten there in time to stop him."

"Jesus... Mr. Kinney is like, your hero now, huh?"

"Yeah," I said with a giggle. "As if I didn't already have enough to worship him for."

She had no idea just how much there was...

"Are you okay now?" Daphne asked.

"I have a black eye, but otherwise I'm physically fine. I'm suspended until Tuesday."

"That sucks. If you want, I can bring your homework to you after school each day."

"That would be great, thank you. Luckily, teachers normally don't assign much homework around Thanksgiving."

"True," she said. "That is something to be thankful for."

"Also, Mom hasn't mentioned anything about me being grounded for getting in a fight, so that's also great."

I thought for a moment about telling Daphne of my coming out to my mother, but decided not to in fear of having to lie about the discovery of The Shirt.

Instead, I asked her, "Did you read the email I sent you yesterday, apologizing for being so mean to you?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I did."

"I really am sorry, Daph. I see how you may possibly be feeling left out, since I've been sort of excluding you from my life a bit."

"It's not like I don't understand... I mean, I get it. You're a young gay man, and you want to go out and be around other gay men without having to drag your fag hag along with you. I just wish you hadn't been such a shit to me."

"You didn't deserve it. You're my best friend and I love you."

She groaned. "I love you too, asshole."

We laughed.

"So... Glen Reeves?" I asked.

"Well, you know that I've always thought he was cute, and I sit next to him in calculus. When I was pissed at you yesterday, I looked up his email address in the school directory. At first I pretended like I needed homework help. We ended up chatting on Yahoo for like, two hours."

"Aww, how romantic," I said.

"Shut up," she grumbled.

We talked for a few more minutes about Glen before hanging up.

I got back on my computer to check my email and lit up when I saw that I had one from bkinney71@hotmail.com.

The subject line read "Fight Aftermath."

I opened the email, which stated:

Justin,

After you and your mom left the school, Dr. Perkins called me into his office. Hobbs and his friends told him how I pulled him off of you, which goes against the school code of how teachers are supposed to react when students get into fights. We are actually not allowed to physically break them up, unless a student is potentially at risk for severe injury. I told him how the asshole was CHOKING YOU, and that was why I pulled him off. Perkins said that he did not have the sole authority to decide whether my actions were warranted or not.

I am suspended with pay until the board of the corporation that runs the school reviews my case, whenever the fuck that will be. Hobbs also told Perkins that he is going to sue me for assault... we shall see if he follows through.

BK

I tried not to puke up my dinner as I read Brian's email a second time.

I replied:

Holy fucking shit. I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?

JT

I waited for the rest of the evening for Brian to answer, but he never did.